Archive for September, 2013

Three Investment Vehicles That Could Revolutionize Solar
September 29th, 2013

Via Celsias, an article on three investment vehicles that could revolutionize rooftop solar: There is no denying that the solar industry is growing at an incredible rate. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA)   estimates 723 megawatts (MW) of photovoltaic (PV) capacity was installed in the first quarter of 2013, representing a 33% increase in deployment levels […]

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Welcome To The Residential Solar Revolution
September 25th, 2013

Via Forbes, a look at residential solar leasing: Solar upstarts like Sunnova will lease you a roof-full of panels for about the same price you pay your old-fashioned electric utility. This has the makings of a solar boom.  With the loud bang of an exploding transformer the power went out at my house last Friday […]

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Rooftop Farming Is Getting Off The Ground
September 25th, 2013

Via NPR, a look at rooftop farming: Stacey Kimmons and Audra Lewicki harvest lettuce at the Chicago Botanic Garden’s 20,000-square-foot vegetable garden atop McCormick Place West in Chicago. From vacant lots to ,” urban farmers are scouring cities for spaces to grow food. But their options vary widely from place to place. While farmers in […]

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Urban Roof Gardens
September 8th, 2013

Via The Guardian, an article on how offices are increasingly turning their roofs into edible gardens and bee sanctuaries: The edible roof garden on top of the Bloomsbury Street Hotel. Photograph: inmidtown Green roofing – the practice of planting vegetation on a building’s roof or terrace – is the ultimate in urban landscaping, making the […]

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Yield Co’s: Renewable Corporations Are Getting Smarter About How They’re Structured
September 5th, 2013

Via Business Insider, a look at five reasons solar energy is apt to explode in the near-term.  Of particular note is the evolution of yield co’s: We just told you that if current rates hold, there will be one new solar installation built in the U.S. every 83 seconds by 2016, for a total of […]

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With Rooftop Solar On Rise, U.S. Utilities Are Striking Back
September 4th, 2013

Via Yale360, a report on how some US power companies – faced with the prospect of a dwindling customer base – are seeking to end public subsidies and other incentives for rooftop solar. In Arizona, for example, the issue has sparked a heated public relations battle that could help determine the future of solar in […]

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About This Blog And Its Author
As potential uses for building and parking lot roofspace continue to grow, unique opportunities to understand and profit from this trend will emerge. Roof Options is committed to tracking the evolving uses of roof estate – spanning solar power, rainwater harvesting, wind power, gardens & farms, “cooling” sites, advertising, apiculture, and telecom transmission platforms – to help unlock the nascent, complex, and expanding roofspace asset class.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has held a lifelong interest in environmental and conservation issues, primarily as they relate to freshwater scarcity, renewable energy, and national park policy. Working from a water-scarce base in Las Vegas with his wife and son, he is the founder of Water Politics, an organization dedicated to the identification and analysis of geopolitical water issues arising from the world’s growing and vast water deficits, and is also a co-founder of SmartMarkets, an eco-preneurial venture that applies web 2.0 technology and online social networking innovations to motivate energy & water conservation. He previously worked for an independent power producer in Central Asia; co-authored an article appearing in the Summer 2010 issue of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal, titled: “The Water Ethic: The Inexorable Birth Of A Certain Alienable Right”; and authored an article appearing in the inaugural issue of Johns Hopkins University's Global Water Magazine in July 2010 titled: “H2Own: The Water Ethic and an Equitable Market for the Exchange of Individual Water Efficiency Credits.”